Betfair Profits Boosted by World Cup

British online bookmaker Betfair received a huge financial post from the 2010 FIFA World Cup held earlier this year, the company reported last week.

Betfair recorded pre-tax profits of £16.9m for the six months to October, up 49 percent on the same period last year. However, those profits were down 18.9% when taking into account the one-off cost of the company floating its shares.

Football Betting

The company attributed the positive figures to the rise in football betting, saying that its active customer base had grown to 654,000 people, a rise of 31 percent.

Betfair Chief Executive David Yi said that that trading conditions after the World Cup were a little more challenging, with difficulties in the horse racing and poker sectors, but that business was not improving once again.

"Recent weather condition in the UK and Ireland... caused a number of race meeting cancellations, moderating overall growth rates in the quarter to date," he elaborated.

The Betting Continues

With the World Cup now behind it, several big football tournaments in the future should give it further boosts, beginning with Euro 2012. Betting is already available on qualifying matches and on tournament winner, with Spain unsurprisingly leading the field at 5/1, ahead of Germany, the Netherlands, England and France.